Timeless

Chapter One

"Yeh Shuhua!" Mr. Kim's loud voice said over the loud daydream that played in Shuhua's head. He then said something else, but, as per usual, she wasn't able to understand.

She looked up, trying to get a sense as to what the man might be asking her before seeing a multiple-choice question on the board. Multiple-choice questions had always been easy for her. Since she was a kid, they were always like free points to her on a quiz, or the extra bonus that might help bump her grade up.

Not that she ever needed that, of course.

However, when it's in a language that she struggles to understand in the first place, it suddenly is a lot more difficult. Especially when her literature class has to use such proper language and big words. Mr. Kim acts like he is a philosopher. Or, that's at least what Shuhua can infer based on the vocabulary he uses. All his words sounded too fancy and complicated for her.

"Ms. Yeh, the answer?" Mr. Kim asked again, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground like he usually did.

A foot kicked Shuhua's shin lightly, causing her to glance over at her attacker. 

To her right, there was a small girl. Her expression was calm and collected as she subtly passed the paper over to Shuhua.

On the paper, the letter "A" was written in black pen. She studied it, assuming it was the answer to the question on the board. The only issue was her lack of sentence structure.

"The answer is A, Mr. Kim," Shuhua blurted, the sentence feeling forced as it left her lips.

"That is correct, Ms. Yeh," Mr. Kim sighed, his eyes speaking words of disappointment instead of the congratulations that Shuhua had mentally hoped to receive.

He said something else directed toward her, but she had already disassociated again.

It's not like she learned anything in that class anyway.

***

"Hey," a voice said as Shuhua was packing up.

The bell had just rung and she was being instructed to go to her next class when the girl that helped before decided to stop her.

Shuhua bowed her head in acknowledgment, walking out of the classroom as conversations with the other students never went well.

"I'm Jeon Soyeon," the girl beside her mentioned, keeping up with Shuhua's pace. "And you?"

"Yeh Shuhua," she answered quickly, giving the girl a puzzled look.

Shuhua wasn't too new. In her terms, she would still consider herself as one of the "new kids", but she has already been here for three weeks. Three, painful weeks. However, now that she thinks of it, she remembers seeing Soyeon's name before. When the midterm exam scores were posted on a board, Soyeon got the highest score possible on all of them, placing first every time.

The shorter girl gave her a slightly gummy smile which gave Shuhua time to study her features. Her features were as sharp and defined as the black eyeliner that framed her sanpaku eyes. The aura around her was calm and peaceful in disposition, similar to her purple, silver-like hair.

To Shuhua, Soyeon seemed to be a quiet person. Her fashion was a little weird, the comfortable weird that is, and her voice wavered with each word. She assumed that it probably took Soyeon a lot of courage to come and talk to her.

"Thank you," Shuhua spoke up, the girl with dyed hair looking over at her. "For helping."

"Of course," Soyeon reassured with a smile, her words quiet yet loud enough for Shuhua to hear. "By the way, where were you from?"